Road guard



E. v. cAMP 1,988,996

ROAD GUARD Filed March 10, 1933 2 sheets-sheet 1 Jan. 22, 1935.

INVENTOR ATTORN EYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. v. cAMP ROAD GUARD vFiled March 1o,A 1933 Jan. 22, 1935.

Patented Jan. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. i

7 Claims.

The invention relates to` certain improvements in resilient strip road guards and has for its object the provision of relatively simple, inexpensive and highly eicient means for connecting the ends of separate strips or panels together, to maintain the necessary degree of tension throughout the line of strips or panels, and also for attaching the final or end strips or panels to suitable anchoring means. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

whichz- Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of the terminal section of a road guard including the resilient connection between the impact member and the terminal post.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary rear elevation of a joint between two strips or panels.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear elevation similar to Fig. 1, showing a modification.

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig, 2i1lustrating a modified joint.

Fig, 7 is a plan view of the joint.

Modern practice in the construction and maintenance of road guards has indicated that the type of guard involving one or more continuous strips of sheet metal supported on posts disposed at intervals along the side of the road to be guarded and maintained under tension, constitutes one of the most economical and effective guards, in that its initial cost in labor and materials is low and it functions to arrest and deect a vehicle leaving the road back onto the road with little damage to the guard or to the vehicle.

The instant invention is designed to providev a road guard of this general character in which the impact member includes a continuous resilient strip of sheet metal constituted by individual strips connected end to end and to the terminal posts by one or more bolts provided with spring means serving to maintain the strip impact member under tension.

A short section of one of these forms of road guard is illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, in whichv 1 indicates the impact member consisting of a strip or panel of sheet metal, preferably steel, which is attached to intermediate posts, such as 9', by supports 2, which latter are attached to the posts by bolts 3. The particular form of spring suppcrt 2 is merely exemplary and illustrates one of various devices for supporting the impact member in spaced relation with respect to the posts. As shown in Fig. 1,

the end of the resilient strip impact member 1 is attached to the terminal post 9 by a novel form of connector, which is designed to maintain the impact member under the desired degree of longitudinal tension. The connection .3 comprises an angular ange 4 formed on the end of the strip 1, which is preferably reinforced by\a transverse angle iron 5, which is secured to the rear face of the strip and to the inner face of the flange 4, preferably by spot welding. in The strip 4 and the angle iron 5 are provided with registering perforations to receive bolts 8, which pass through openings in the posts 9 and are provided with nuts 8 by means of which the bolts are adjusted. Interposed between the head l5 of each bolt 8 and the flanged end of the strip l is a helical spring 15, which serves to impose a tensional stress on the strip 1. In the particular exemplication of the invention, multiple bolts 8 are indicated, but it will be understood that, under certain conditions, a single bolt, with its associated spring tensioning device, will suffice.

In a relatively short length of guard, a single strip may constitute the impact member, which will be maintained under the requisite tension by means of the spring bolt connection just described. When, however, the road guard is of considerable length and it is found necessary to form the impact member of multiple strips 3u connected end to end, it has been found desirable to effect the connection between sucessive strips by resilient joints generally similar to that employed in attaching the ends of the resilient strip impact member to the terminal posts. Such a joint is illustrated in Fig. 2, in which l, 1' indicate separate strips, 'which are connected up in continuous series and the end of each strip is bent at right angles to form the flange 4, which is preferably reinforced by an 40 angle iron section 5, which, as in the preceding case, is preferably spot Welded to the rear face of the corresponding strip and to the inner face of the corresponding flange 4. The anges 4 and the overlying portions of the angle iron 5 are perforated to receive bolts 8, which are provided with nuts s' and. helical springs 15 interposed between the heads of the bolt and the inner face of one of the reinforcing angle irons 5. By adjusting the nuts 8 on the bolts, the springs 15 will be compressed and will apply any desired degree of tension to the elements 1, 1 of the impact member and supplement the longitudinal tension applied to said impact member as t a whole by the resilient connection between said 5 member 1 and the terminal post. In this case, the

same general type of reinforcement applied to the end of the strip 1 is employed as shown in copending application Serial No. 613,755, filed May 26, 1932. In this case, the strip 1 has applied to its end a strap 5 having a spaced series of loops 6, which latter abut the flange 4 formed on the end of the strip, said loops registering with the bolt openings in said flange. The strap 5 is preferably secured to the rear face of the strip by spotwelds. A further reinforcement may be applied, if desired, in the form of an angle iron 7, which is spot Welded to the rear face of the strip 1 and abuts the ends of the loops 6. The bolts 8 traverse the registering openings in the angle iron 7, the loops 6, the flange 4 and the openings in the terminal post 9, so that, when the nuts 8' on the bolts are set up, the desired degree of tension will be imposed on the strip l through the springs 15 mounted on the bolts.

'I'he same type of joint may be employed for connecting the ends of successive sections of the resilient strip and such joint is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. In this case', the straps 5 with the loops 6 are duplicated on the ends of the strips and, if desired, are reinforced by the angle irons '1. The bolts 8 engage the registering openings in the angle iron 7, the loops 6 and the flanges 4 on the ends of the strips and the nuts 8' on the bolt engage the outwardly projecting flange of one of the angle irons, as clearly indicated in the drawings. In this case, by setting up the nuts 8', any desired degree of tension may be applied to the connected sections 1, 1' of the impact member, in the same manner andform as described in connection with the preceding modification. v

Inasxnuch as the continuous strip, forming the impact member of the guard, is subject to considerable expansion during hot weather and to some f stretching under the impact of vehicles, it is desirable to provide automatic means for compensating any loss-of ,tension or tautness in the im- 'pact member, due to these causes, and it has been found that' the springs on the connecting bolts are thoroughly effective for this purpose.

What I claim is: y

1. A connector for resilient strip road guards, comprising an orificed reinforcing member on the end of the strip, a. bolt engaging the orifice, and a spring on the bolt engaging the reinforcing member and adapted to apply tension to the strip.

2. A connector for resilient strip road guards, comprising an angular flange on the end of the strip having an opening therein, a bolt engaging the opening, and a spring mounted on the bolt and engaging the flange.

3. A connector for resilient strip road guards, comprising a reinforced flange on the end of the strip having an opening therein, a. bolt engaging the opening, and a spring mounted on the bolt and engaging the reinforced flange.

4. The combination with a strip of a road guard having its end bent to form an angular flange with an opening in the latter, of a reinforcing member secured to the strip in abutting engagement with said flange and having an openinguin alignment with the opening in the flange, a bolt engaging the openings in the flange and reinforcing member, and a spring on the bolt engaging the reinforcing member.

5. The combination with a strip of a road guard having its end bent to form an angular flange, of reinforcing means associated with said flange, said flange and reinforcing means having registering openings therein, bolts engaging the openings, andsprings mounted on said bolts, said bolts and springs forming a tensioning attachment for said strip.`

6; In a road guard impact member including separate strips of resilient material arranged in longitudinal series, means'for connecting the strips comprising fianges on the ends of said strips for connecting said strips end to end, comprising perforated abutments on the strip ends, bolts engaging the perforations in adjacent abutments and spring on the bolts engaging` the abutments to apply tension to the series of strips.

. EUGENE V. CAMP. 

